Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Can't Stop

I can't stop working- I have so much to do, I don't want to stop until it is done. I was busy all day- two photo shoots, then working on date auction things and following up with anniversary event auction items. I went to a local meeting earlier tonight, I came home around 8:30, brought my dinner into the office and went straight back onto the computer until midnite. I was going to watch a movie that I really wanted to see, but I couldn't take myself off the computer. Part of this obsession with work is based in fear- I'm very afraid of having two event disasters and in order to avoid that, I want to work as hard as I can, for as long as I can to ensure that we have two successful events that bring in serious money. It's kind of funny, one always hears about procrastinators- how they wait until the last minute for things. I'm the exact opposite- I want things done as early as possible. I'm obsessed with getting things done before they are needed. 6 weeks may seem like a long time before an event, but for me it feels like tomorrow. The hardest part is waiting for other people- I'm still waiting for the contact info for a number of bachelors, I'm waiting for ad info for some of our sponsors. Some people are amazingly slow in sending their info over.

Our date auction flier is now finalized and I'm really happy with the way it looks. We had some issues, but now they have been resolved. One of our sponsors gave some good feedback about the flier and we made some changes that improved it. There was an aspect of the html invitation that I wasn't very happy with, but Lisa was able to change it and everything looks awesome. This is my favorite flier. Our event page has a lot of updates that I need to send over. I was going to do it tonight, but didn't get to it.

It's so important when you are involved in a situation to first decide what you want out of it- whether you want things to work or not. This sounds really simplistic, but it is important to keep in mind. There was an issue with an event that arose recently and when I started negotiating to resolve the issue, i knew that I needed to keep in mind that I wanted this situation to work out. Sometimes, it can be as simple as saying to the other side, "I want this to work out." That way, it is clear what you want and that you're willing to work on a solution. When you tell someone that you want things to work out, it usually makes a difference. It is strange, but sometimes people don't want things to work out, either consciously or subconsciously, and they will engage in behavior that pretty much guarantees a negative result. In my position, I never want to lose anyone's support of Project Smile. It is the same as any business that wants to maintain their customer base. My goal is to maintain and grow support for our work, I always keep that in mind when I interact with people. When problems arise, it is up to me to diffuse them in a way that keeps sponsors happy. Of course, there is a balance. I can not always accommodate every request and sometimes there are just differences of opinion on matters and nothing will change that. But the most important thing is that there is a genuine desire to solve the problem to everyone's satisfaction and that issues are handled with grace and professionalism. There are many times when I get fed up and annoyed at things that happen- or haven't happened- and some people are incredibly difficult to deal with, but those feelings of frustration can never leave my desk.

What else is new? I have two more photo shoots scheduled and one more that needs to be scheduled- then we are done. The last one is a redo, so hopefully we can get that in before the week is over. My deadline for photos was 8/13 and we are almost ahead of schedule. I still have that blank spot in the calendar- the person who was supposed to take care of it still won't respond to em or phone calls. I hope they are OK, I don't know what is going on. I have one other slim possibility for a sponsor, if that doesn't work out, I don't know what to do. We never had a blank ad spot and we're not about to start now.

Well, I'm off to bed. Part of me wants to keep working, but it is almost 1am and I know that if I start working, it will be 3am before I stop. I stayed up until 3:30 on Monday, but I really don't want to get back into that. I'm going away for a couple of days next week- a short vacation, so I have an extra pressure on myself to get a ton of things done before I go away. I'm only going Thurs-Sunday, but in my head it's as if I'm planning a 3 week hiatus.Anyways, until next time friends..

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Inside Running a Non profit

Have you ever wondered what it is like to run a non profit or any other business? (The similarities between non profits and other for-profit businesses are quite great) My blog is about the daily activities of managing a small, but rapidly growing non profit, an organization which I started and this year will be celebrating its 14th Anniversary. Share the highs, the lows, frustrations, anxieties, challenges and the immense rewards.